The Rookie FilmmakersRyan Coogler and Gia Coppola have fearlessly accomplished the near impossible: the singular and assured debut.

The exhilaration a director feels when his or her first film is a home run is well-documented. But the terror that comes with it? Not so much. Yet that's what motivates Ryan Coogler, who wrote and directed Fruitvale Station—based on the true story of Oscar Grant, a young black man killed by transit police in Coogler's hometown of Oakland—on a shoestring budget in less than a month with a tiny crew. Now that Fruitvale has blown up into an indie hit with Oscar buzz, he has to prove he can do it again. Fast. Coogler's confident he can handle the pressure. "I'm from a part of Oakland where I shouldn't even be talking to you," he says with a laugh. "Every time I step out of my door, I've got fear. So, yeah, I'm afraid. But if I didn't learn how to confront my fears, I would never have left the house." He'd like to keep making films as emotionally engaging and personal as Fruitvale—movies like one of his favorites, about another guy who beat fear and the odds: "Rocky's nothing but a human story," says Coogler, who is attached to write and direct Creed, a sort of Rocky prequel-cum-spinoff. Unlike the 1976 film's big-budget sequels, the original, he points out, "was made for less than a million bucks."

Gia Coppola's fears were more deep-seated: living up to a weighty last name. Grandfather: Francis Ford. Aunt: Sofia. With that kind of filmmaking DNA, she didn't need an assist but got one anyway: James Franco handpicked her to write and direct the adaptation of his coming-of-age short-story collection, Palo Alto. Although celebrated in artistic circles, Coppola had made only short fashion films with friends, "and I wanted to keep that family feeling [on set], because it was nerve-racking. James took me step by step and made the process tangible, but also pushed me to have my own interpretation. He wanted a female point of view." It's a lyrical debut from a woman whose fragile appearance belies a steely will. "My biggest frustration is when people aren't truthful," she says. "I can handle the truth."

Ryan Coogler, 27 (pictured, above)Credit Check:Fruitvale Station; upcoming: CreedEnd Run: "The thing I love about filmmaking is that it's so chaotic. I played football for a long time, and it's the same thing: To produce your best, you've really got to be in the moment."

Gia Coppola, 26Credit Check:Palo AltoSticks and Stones: "Directing is a weird balance of having to be strong but not overbearing. If you're too forceful, you're considered difficult. But if you're not forceful, you're meek. Either way, you're probably going to be labeled, so you just have to go get the job done."

as chattelDjango's wife, played by Kerry Washington. Tarantino drew on phrenology to fashion an epic, incendiary monologue on racial superiority. The moment DiCaprio finished delivering the speech, the entire cast gave him a spontaneous standing ovation. The Leading Man
Meet the emancipated Leonardo Dicaprio, a single-name superstar who's broken free of the shackles that constrain other A-listers: Don't accept a supporting role? (Too late.) Never mess with a beloved classic? (Whoops.) Under no circumstances play a bad guy? (Does a virulently racist slave o Adding philosophical underpinnings to Calvin's racism helped unlock the character, informing his affection for his surrogate father, a house slave played by Samuel L. Jackson, and his leering need to possessas chattelDjango's wife, played by Kerry Washington. Tarantino drew on phrenology to fashion an epic, incendiary monologue on racial superiority. The moment DiCaprio finished delivering the speech, the entire cast gave him a spontaneous standing ovation. The Leading Man Meet the emancipated Leonardo Dicaprio, a single-name superstar who's broken free of the shackles that constrain other A-listers: Don't accept a supporting role? (Too late.) Never mess with a beloved classic? (Whoops.) Under no circumstances play a bad guy? (Does a virulently racist slave oDETAILS: Do you pay attention to the business of Hollywood?
Christian Bale: I'm a fucking awful businessman. I got no idea how to sell a film. I don't know why people want to see certain films. But it's a strange brew, you know, because I don't feel like an artist or anythingthere's way too much business involved in this whole thing for that. But equally there's way too much creativity for this to be like any normal business. DETAILS: Did you hear about the Internet reaction to Ben Affleck being cast as Batman? It was surprisingly virulent.
Christian Bale: Somebody pointed it out to me. Look, there's no middle ground on the Internet. It's just extreme feelings. They love you or abhor you. Ben knows that, and I doubt if he spent one minute worrying about it. DETAILS: What's your take on Moses, one of the most iconic menand beardsin history?
Christian Bale: I prefer to call him Moshe. Otherwise it's like "Moooooses," and everyone immediately thinks of Chuck Heston. Ridley and myself, we'd like to present a different interpretation. I'd never sat down and read the five books of the Torahthe Pentateuchand there is some shocking stuff. Things you certainly never hear in Sunday school. He's a fascinating guy, with all of the vulnerabilities and extraordinary capacities that come with being very humanalmost too human, and quite harsh in his emotions. It's a raw story when you break it down. DETAILS: So, are we talking action-figure-ready Moses?
Christian Bale: I certainly wouldn't want to call it an action film, though he fought a number of battles throughout his life. Let me put it this way: Any of us living today who arrived back then would be scared shitless. That's the thing about the Tao of Leo: He's managed to cast a long shadow over Hollywood for two full decades without ever bowing to conventionno big-budget franchises, no rom-coms, not even a true action movie. "I don't know why I choose certain films," he says. "I just gravitate toward them and I don't question that."
Perhaps the boldest move in DiCaprio's 20-year career is playing antebellum plantation owner Calvin Candie in Django Unchained. DiCaprio was drawn to him from the moment he read Tarantino's script. He calls Calvin "one of, if not the most, despicable, indulgent, radical characters I've ever read in my life." Naturally, DiCaprio signed on right away, and he promptly presented Tarantino with a gift: an antiquarian book on phrenology, the racist pseudo-science used to rationalize slavery. From there, DiCaprio and Tarantino made some striking modifications. "Writer-directors tend to be very precious about their material and their words," he says, "but Quentin's whole process is getting input from the actors and adding levels to their characters." Perhaps no character evolved as much as Calvin, the master of Candyland plantation. "A lot of the talks we had specifically about phrenology really took him to a completely different level." "I apologize if my voice is outI've been screaming all day," Leonardo DiCaprio says from the Long Island set of Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street. Taking a respite in his production office, he sounds sleepy, scratchy, and, quite frankly on this late-October afternoon, a little spent. DETAILS: So, are we talking action-figure-ready Moses? Christian Bale: I certainly wouldn't want to call it an action film, though he fought a number of battles throughout his life. Let me put it this way: Any of us living today who arrived back then would be scared shitless. The Transformer After redefining the superhero genre as Batman, Christian Bale is back to doing what he loves best: disappearing into messy, larger-than-life charactersleading-man looks be damnedfor fiercely independent filmmakers.
Gone are the days of the biennial, or at best annual, Leo movie. After assiduously turning selectivity into an art form, long exercising the power of saying no, he is tasting the freewheeling joyand painof saying yes: DiCaprio has three big films hitting theaters within the next year, and he's producing three to boot. He's coming off a year straight of wrangling, meetings, and a whole lot of acting. "This has been an exceptional situation," DiCaprio says.-->